Noomi Rapace Signs On With Tom Hardy In Animal Rescue

Swedish star Noomi Rapace has landed yet another gig in the Hollywood era of her career, and one of the biggest benefits of the new job is that it teams her up with one of the most in-demand actors of the moment. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Prometheus star has now officially signed on for the upcoming adaptation of Dennis Lehane's Animal Rescue, which already has Tom Hardy attached to star.

Rumor of Rapace's possible involvement with the project first surfaced back in mid-December, but today the casting has been confirmed by Variety. The plot comes from one of Lehane's short stories from the collection Boston Noir and follows an ex-con bartender trying to live the straight life whose life is severely changed when he finds and takes in a stray pit bull. Soon enough the man is contacted by the dog's crazy owner and finds himself caught up in a deadly heist gone wrong. Rapace will play Nadia, the female lead who has " a scar across her entire neck." Unlike Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island, all of which took place in New England, this Lehane adaptation will be moving from Boston to New York and shooting is scheduled to begin in the spring.

Rapace recently teamed up with director Brian De Palma and Rachel McAdams to star in the crime thriller Passion, which played at the New York Film festival in September. She will next be seen in Niels Arden Oplev's Dead Man Down, which will be in theaters March 8th.